Ben Simmons has been rumored to be on the trade block for a while now. His shooting struggles have left the Sixers in an awful position, and it seems appropriate for both sides to move on.
The only question now is, where will he end up? While both Portland and Toronto have been among the most aggressive pursuers, Jason Dumas of 95.7 The Game recently revealed that Simmons himself isn’t too keen on going anywhere but California.
“He doesn’t want to go to a bad situation,” said Dumas. “He’s reading the tea leaves. He sees Toronto, he sees Portland and then, being frank being the young socialite that he is, he’s not looking to go to any of those situations. He’s looking to go to the California teams.”
Obviously, this demand has been met with major criticism.
Not only does Ben have virtually no leverage in this situation, but his conduct following the playoffs has not been ideal. According to Dumas, Simmons has gone no contact with the Sixers, going so far as to ignore phone calls from his co-star, Joel Embiid.
It also appears that his motivation behind playing in California stems from social reasons over anything else.
After putting on such a poor performance in the playoffs, it’s certainly bold of Simmons to be so picky in where he gets dealt.
But, chances are, at least one of those teams is willing to give up assets to take him in. it’s really only a matter of time at this point.
